US military denies airstrike killed civilians in Afghanistan

The US military has strongly denied that American forces killed civilians in a recent airstrike in the eastern part of Afghanistan.

Afghan officials had said at least 16 civilians, including women and children, were killed on Thursday when a private vehicle was struck in Haska Mina district in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

But US Forces-Afghanistan said in a statement on Saturday that the airstrike “killed a number of militants,” not civilians.

“The militants were observed loading weapons in to a vehicle and were under surveillance until the vehicle was destroyed by an airstrike,” said Bob Purtiman, a spokesman for the American military in Afghanistan.

“The strike was conducted in the middle of open terrain. There was zero chance of civilian casualties,” Purtiman added. “This was the second false claim of civilian casualties in the same district in the last three weeks.”